10/05/2020
floating pondweed
The floating leaves of Pondweed are fading at the end of summer. And the leaves of the nearby trees fall in the water, drift with the breeze, and catch on the Pondweed. They look golden in the sunlight, brighten the pond, and complement the wildflowers surrounding the water.
Floating Pondweed Potemogeton natans has two kinds of leaves; floating and submerged. The shiny leathery floating leaves are opaque, and support the whole plant which is rooted in the mud below. The submerged leaves are thin, transparent, and move with the water. In summer these plants provide habitats for many tiny aquatic invertebrates. These in turn are used as food by frogs, snakes, turtles, and ducks who feed here. After these plants die, their decomposition by bacteria and fungi provides food in turn for the aquatic invertebrates. The Pondweed survives winter with rhizomes buried in the mud at the bottom.
yellow loosestrife
9/28/2020
Phoebe in September
Phoebe is hunting at the pond today, balanced carefully on a reed bending over the water, with a reflection mirrored in the hazy sunlight.
Eastern Phoebes Sayornis phoebe are usually lone birds. Other than nesting season, one will rarely join another phoebe. They will sit upright and wag their tails from a low perch, looking for flying insects to eat.
They migrate south starting in September, wintering in the southern states. And, they are among the first migrants to return to their breeding grounds in spring, sometimes as early as March.
9/27/2020
muskrat tail
The muskrats who live here were gathering breakfast this morning in the pond. One, with tail held high, munched aquatic plants growing to just below the water surface. Their tails are 7 to 11 inches long, covered in scales rather than fur, and flattened vertically (side-to-side) to serve as a rudder in swimming.
9/26/2020
September wildflowers
9/25/2020
asters
9/24/2020
lavender asters
Asters in the Symphyotrichum genus may be blue, lavender, or white, and many shades of those colors. These lavender flowers, blooming now in the buffer around the pond, are one of approximately 25 aster plants native to Minnesota. Some of them provide food for bees and other insects through the late summer season.
9/22/2020
bur marigold
Even while fading and going to seed, the Bur Marigolds Bidens cernua nod as their seed load gets heavier. They are called 'Nodding Bur Marigold' for good reason. That makes them sound benign but their middle name 'bur' refers to the hard angled seeds with 4 barbed hooks that give them a free ride on passing animals or people to where they might sprout anew.
9/20/2020
leopard frog
Leopard Frogs Lithobates pipiens who live in our pond may travel one or two miles from water in the summer. You might hear them make a long, deep 'snore' noise lasting several seconds ending with a chuck-chuck-chuck. In the fall, Leopard Frogs come back to their pond. We saw this one hopping across the sandy shore. They spend the cold winter in the water, burrowed into the mud, hibernating with their metabolism slowed.
9/17/2020
lobelia still vibrant
9/15/2020
9/12/2020
9/10/2020
ducks in September
Mallards, dabbling ducks who rely on ponds like this one, have been growing and feeding in nearby crop fields while they molted into new feathers. Now we see them on the pond more often than in mid-summer. It is our signal to watch for daily duck visits as they prepare for migration.
9/09/2020
grasshopper on coneflower
On the blooming coneflowers, a Two-striped Grasshopper Melanoplus bivittatus rests in the sunshine. This grasshopper usually lives in sunny, moist, lush, weedy or meadow areas -- like the wetland around the pond. They eat a wide variety of plants, and sometimes also dead animal matter on the ground. They require unsaturated fatty acids in their diet since these nutrients help keep their wings strong and rigid.
9/08/2020
green heron scouting for prey
We have not seen the Green Heron Butorides virescens around the pond since mid-July. This one was balanced today on rocks near the shoreline, its thin legs crossed as it turned its body to spy prey below the water. After a while, it went into the grasses to hunt for another food item.
9/05/2020
Birds seek quiet hidden places while they molt into new feathers each year after nesting season. Here in Minnesota, most birds have passed that phase. So, again we are seeing dabbling ducks and diving ducks visit the pond. Early this morning, three Mergansers were floating on calm water warming themselves in the sunlight. After a while they began diving to find food. They eat fish, mollusks, aquatic insects, and plants. This one was poised to dive, with her wings up, feet back, and bill ready to lead her into the water.
9/03/2020
garden spider
9/02/2020
9/01/2020
monarch on vervain
The Blue Vervain blossoms have mostly gone to seed. In the buffer around the pond, they've been blooming since mid-July. The flowers of Verbena hastata open one by one from the bottom of spikes held on the crown of the plant. This Monarch butterfly looked for nectar in the few remaining flowers at the top of the spike. Along with butterflies, bees and other insects visit Vervain. Now, the seeds will be food for birds like Cardinals, Sparrows, and Juncos.
8/30/2020
planthopper
Planthoppers are masters of disguise. A green Acanalonid Planthopper, hiding on a stem, can look like part of the plant -- a seed pod, leaf, bract, or stipule.
This one is only 3/8 inch long. It was perched on a stem at the leaf sheath, probably sucking sap from the grass. Planthoppers, true to their name, can leap many times the length of their bodies. And they are very agile insects that can move easily forwards, backwards, or sideways.
8/29/2020
sneezeweed
Growing from 2 to 6 feet high on angular winged stems, Sneezeweed Helenium autumnale is blooming on all sides of the pond.
The flowers are showy, golden yellow with a domed center. These late-summer plants will feed butterflies and unfold their blooms until winter comes.
The common name 'Sneezeweed' came about because the pollen, when inhaled, causes sneezing. In the past, the powdered flower heads were used in medicine to cause violent sneezing as treatment.
8/28/2020
green frogs on rocks
8/25/2020
goldenrod
To complement all the blue and purple flowers around the pond this week, the Goldenrod has unfurled its blooms. Solidago species, commonly called Goldenrods, are in a genus of more than 100 species of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae.
Goldenrods are often blamed for allergies, but they have sticky pollen and rely on insects to move most of it. The wind borne pollen of ragweeds and pigweeds are to blame for 'hay fever' in late summer.
These plants are habitat for a large number of insect species. Blooming in late summer, they are a critical nectar source for many bees, butterflies, and moths to fortify themselves before freezing weather comes.
8/24/2020
balanced turtle
This turtle was probably thinking it could be the top part of a balanced rock sculpture. Or, maybe seeking a sunny rock and believed this would be it. Not enough rocks for a sculpture, nor the right shape to be comfortable!